


Something's Fishy

by dirrrtydeeds



Category: World Wrestling Entertainment
Genre: F/M, Mermen, Mystery, cursing
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-30
Packaged: 2019-08-11 03:12:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,378
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16467545
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/dirrrtydeeds/pseuds/dirrrtydeeds
Summary: You and your best friend, Nikki Bella, break into a suspiciously abandoned building only to find that maybe Grandma Bella isn't so crazy after all.





	Something's Fishy

**Author's Note:**

> Here it is, my entry into the Spooktacular Writing Challenge that my friend Lex and I hosted over on tumblr! Check out my tumblr to read all other entrants to the writing challenge, they're all amazing!

For not the first time ever, and you knew it certainly wouldn’t be the last time ever, you found yourself wondering why in the fuck you listened to your best friend Nikki.

You weren’t the type of person to do normal teenage shit. Nikki was enough excitement for the both of you, and though you were usually able to talk her down from metaphorical (though sometimes literal) cliffs, for some reason, she simply wouldn’t budge on this one. 

“Nik, this shit is ridiculous.” You huffed, trying to mask your nervousness with false bravado as you watched her pick the lock holding the gate that served as the only security for the old abandoned building that held your tiny town’s public pool which had mysteriously shut down a few years back. “I can think of fifty different things I’d rather be doing right now than breaking in to look at what’s probably just gonna be an empty pool with a bunch of fuckin’ rats and shit in it.”

“No way!” Nikki clucked her tongue, still putting an impressive amount of focus into picking the lock with her hairpin. “Come _on._ Have some fun for once in your life. You’ve heard the rumors! There’s _something_ in there.”

You rolled your eyes for what was likely the millionth time, looking behind you nervously to see if there was anybody who could see your friend being a fucking deviant. Not that it would matter - Nikki never got in trouble for anything. All she did was flash those puppy dog eyes and bat her long eyelashes and she was either off the hook or had minimal punishment. Bitch.

“Yeah, rumors started by your crazyass grandma who has nothing better to do than to sit around and start shit.” You shot back, hands on your hips. “Seriously, there’s nothing in that pool but rodents and insects. We’re wasting our time. _You’re_ wasting my time.”

“Ah _ha!”_ Nikki said triumphantly, the lock having been successfully picked. You had to hand it to her, that was a new record time. And all in six inch pumps. Impressive. She turned back to look at you, smug, and the smile dropped off of your face. “C’mon. Let’s go meet the loch ness monster.” 

You simply stared at your friend heading inside, shaking your head, mumbling under your breath as you followed her about how there was _so much_ wrong with that statement. She either didn’t hear you or didn’t feel like shooting back with her own snark (the second option was far more likely), and continued on until she made it to the front door.

“It’s not too late to turn back…” You whispered, despite the fact that, a.) you knew that there was definitely no one nearby to hear you, and b.) that Nikki wouldn’t stop now at the unlocked front door if she didn’t stop at the breaking in part of the possible breaking and entering charge you could get on your record. 

_“God._ Maybe try living a little for a change, yeah?” Nikki shot you a certain look that she had given you many many times in your long friendship as she tried her hardest to push on the doors to get them open despite the somewhat fading sign next to the handle saying ‘pull’.

She had a point, though. It was incredibly rare that you did really much of anything outside of school, other than staying holed up in your bedroom with your record player and your books. Even when you were hanging out with Nikki, it was usually at the park at the end of the street, or at your place or hers. You didn’t really do much rule breaking. Even _Brie,_ the more conservative Bella twin, called you a wet blanket.

And you were about to graduate _high school._ You were eighteen years old and you’ve never done anything worth a damn. You’d never even cheated on a test. You bit your lip as you stared at Nikki, still struggling with the door. Maybe it was an important part of life, doing stupid shit when you were a teenager.

Besides, it wasn’t like you could possibly get caught. You knew for a fact that there hadn’t been any security guards around here in years, and since there was really nothing in here, nobody would give a damn about two punk ass teenagers checking the place out.

You closed your eyes and took a deep breath, promising to yourself that if you got in trouble, you were throwing the blame _entirely_ on Nikki. You opened your eyes then and gently hip bumped your friend to the side and tugged the doors open, lifting an eyebrow and gesturing for her to get inside.

Nikki was silent for a moment before putting her hands on her hips. “I knew that they were pull to open.”

You rolled your eyes and patted her condescendingly on the shoulder. “Sure you did, Nik. Now get the fuck inside. The sooner we’re in, the sooner we can leave.”

“Ooh!” Nikki squealed, heading inside, the noises echoing on the walls. “I _knew_ you’d come around!”

A flicker of a smile played at your lips at her excitement. You really did care about and appreciate her as your best friend. And likewise, she really well and truly cared about your happiness. It was just that sometimes she could just be a bit _much,_ that was all.

“If I get bit by a fucking radioactive rodent, I’m going to punch you in the face.” You threatened, half joking, much to Nikki’s amusement. You took a few moments to slowly look around the place. It was actually pretty cool - some vegetation had started growing through cracks in the concrete and the walls, some bits of debris here and there, and tons of dead leaves. Moonlight was filtering through the dirty windows and was providing soft illumination on the floors and walls, just barely enough for you to see where you were going.

“This is so beautiful.” You murmured quietly, almost as if being too loud would disturb the peace. Nikki hummed her agreement, nodding her head.

“Eerie… but definitely beautiful.” She finished for you, staring at the old, nasty looking wood that was surely meant to serve as a display case for whatever team that would be housed here after construction was completed, only for it to never get the chance to properly open its doors. It was almost sad, in a way.

“I wish I knew what happened to have them suddenly stop everything when it was so close to being done.” You said wistfully, staring at pretty much completed building. The only thing that looked ‘unfinished’ was painting and other general furnishings. And even then, it was already half done. 

“Grandma used to tell me it was because there was something in the water.” Nikki said softly, catching your attention. “That they put water in the pool, just to test it, and then they left for the night, and when they came back, there was something in there. All the workers got so spooked that they just left, shut down construction, and locked the place up.”

Though you knew that Grandma Bella was notorious for telling creepy stories to all the neighborhood kids, this one ran a bit of a shiver down your spine. Though it was an outlandish theory, it made a bit of sense. What other reason would there be for just up and leaving the place would there be, one week before construction was meant to end?

“Yeah, well… she says a lot of weird shit.” You said, trying to remain a bit skeptical, for your sake. ‘Something in the water’? Um, no thanks. That was some Stephen King shit. “But I definitely-”

You cut yourself off abruptly when you heard the unmistakable sound of water splashing. A _lot_ of water splashing. And judging by the wide, terrified, doe eyes of Nikki Bella, she had heard it, too. You felt like your heart had dropped into your stomach as you two stared at each other.

“Wishful thinking…” You murmured, trying to calm your heart rate and relax your body so you didn’t have a full on panic attack. “But maybe it’s just the wind?”

“There’s _no way_ that was wind.” Nikki snapped back fiercely, her voice just as hushed as yours. “Come on. Let’s go find out what that was.” 

You stared incredulously as Nikki started walking towards the big doors that went to the pool area, following her quickly so you could catch her wrist to stop her. _“Go find out what that was?_ Are you _insane,_ Nicole?”

When Nikki turned around to look at you, you were definitely a little frightened at the cocky look on her face. You had just opened your mouth to say that she was freaking you out when she went and did it. She pulled the ultimate trump card - the only way to get a teenager to do something. This generation’s double dog dare.

“You won’t do it.” Nikki taunted. _“No balls.”_

It was quiet for a moment, and she was far too smug for your liking, but, well. It worked. You scowled and dropped her hand, unable to resist the pull of ‘no balls’.

_“Fine,_ you bitch.” You hissed, pulling out your keys to flick on the mini flashlight you kept on there in case of emergencies. “But I swear to god, if we fucking die in there…”

“Oh, quit being so dramatic, you big baby.” Nikki rolled her eyes, pulling open the door (having already learned her lesson) and leading the way while you hesitantly followed behind. You were quiet, even trying to keep your breathing hushed, figuring Nikki’s stilettos were making enough noise on the concrete for the both of you.

You almost dropped your flashlight when the two of you finally saw the pool. It was _huge,_ and filled completely with water, and what looked like some seaweed here and there. Seaweed inside of a public pool that was never open to the public to begin with. A public pool that was full and looked mostly clean. And it _reeked_ of saltwater.

“What. The. Fuck.” Nikki breathed, looking, for the first time, almost frightened as she pointed at the pool. “I saw something move. Something _huge._ Like the size of a shark.”

“Nik, cut the shit. There’s no way a _shark_ could be in here.” You huffed, feeling uneasy at the thought of your best friend, who was mostly unshakable, looking as freaked out as you felt.

“We _both_ heard something back there, in the hallway.” Nikki argued. “Something big.”

You took a deep breath, resigning yourself to the role of the voice of reason once again, even though you were about two seconds away from shitting your pants. “Listen, I’m sure it was nothing. You were already looking for something, so your eyes could have been playing tricks on you.”

You took a few steps closer to the pool, even though you most definitely didn’t want to, and knelt by the edge of it, holding your mini flashlight to the water and to the general area where Nikki had pointed out the ‘shark’. “See? There’s nothing-”

Oh.

_Oh._

You cut yourself off as you saw it, too. Not quite shaped like a shark, but definitely something big. It wasn’t moving, and though you couldn’t tell if it had eyes or was even a living creature at all, it was almost like it was _looking_ at you and Nikki. Like it was waiting for something.

“That’s the thing I saw!” Nikki exclaimed, loud enough to startle you and make you jump just a little bit, which unfortunately made you lose your grip on your keys that were attached to the shitty mini flashlight, and drop them into the water.

_“Shit!”_ You exclaimed, watching with panicked eyes as your keys started slowly sinking to what was most _definitely_ going to be their final resting place. There was no way in _hell_ you were going in there. Abso-fucking-lutely not. The water was as dark as the ocean, you were in your everyday clothes, it was _ass_ cold already, you were fucking _terrified_ of whatever was in the water, and there was no guarantee you’d find the damn things even if you _did_ jump in there.

Sure, your parents would be _furious._ But you would honest to god take the punishment of a lifetime and keep your mouth shut about you and Nikki breaking into a building and possibly finding some terrifying Eldritch horror deep sea monster in the water of a pool that should never have been filled to begin with.

“Are you gonna go get them?” Your best friend asked you anxiously, and you shook your head furiously.

“No _way!”_

“What? But those are all your keys!” 

“Nic _ole._ I’d _way_ rather lose my keys than be eaten by fucking Cthulhu or some shit-”

“Cuh-what now?”

_“Cthulhu,_ you fucking dingus. You know, like ‘The Call of Cthulhu’?”

“You repeating the thing doesn’t make me understand it, you bitch!”

“Jesus _Christ,_ Nicole. Have you ever read a book? Like, ever?”

“I read!”

“Yeah, fucking _Cosmo!”_

“That’s still _reading.”_

“Fucking barely!”

You and Nikki were so lost in your mini argument that neither of you heard or saw the creature that had began this whole thing to begin with, until it interrupted you with what sounded like the excited chitters of a dolphin.

It was almost like a movie, the way time felt like it stood still as the two of you quieted and stared at each other, then as if the two of you were in sync, turned to look at the _literal_ person in the water, holding a _scaly_ hand out to you, holding your keys, looking so proud of himself.

Your voice was quiet as you stared at him, unable to take your eyes away. “You’re… you’re seeing this too, right?”

He looked confused a moment, cocking his head to the side and furrowing his thick eyebrows together. You watched, half scared out of your mind and half in awe as tiny little slits on his neck that reminded you of gills on a fish moved a bit, and some water came trickling out of them and down to his (very muscular, but that wasn’t important) chest.

“Oh!” He spoke, his words halting a bit, as if he wasn’t quite familiar with English, still holding your keys. “Uh… You dropped these.”

Both you and Nikki screamed at the same time when you saw what appeared to be a _massive_ fin behind him, mostly transparent with flecks of gold that shimmered in the low light of the moon that had been filtering in through the shitty windows far above your heads. He started screaming too, but the look on his face made it seem like he was more screaming just because the two of you were.

And you did what any reasonable person would do when confronted with this situation. You punched him right in the face. He dropped your keys back into the water as he clutched his nose and made a noise of pain, then made a bunch of other chittering noises that sounded _suspiciously_ like cursing when he looked down to see your keys sinking once again.

You and Nikki watched with wide eyes as he dove back down underwater, showing off more of his golden tail - his _tail,_ holy fucking _shit._

“What the fuck is happening!” You exclaimed, panicked as you lost sight of the m- no, no, you couldn’t say it.

“I don’t know!” Nikki cried, looking equally as panicked. “But I think I saw this happen in a movie once!”

You whipped your head over to look at her again, your eyebrows knit together in confusion. “What the fuck? What movie?”

Nikki paused, a bit sheepish. “Uh. _Aquamarine.”_

It was silent for a few seconds as you and Nikki stared at each other.

_“... Aquamarine.”_ You repeated flatly.

You best friend gave you a haughty look with her hands on her hips, like she was challenging you to make fun of her for it. “Yeah. That one mermaid movie with JoJo and Emma Roberts, with Sara Paxton as the mermaid.”

“I know the movie.” You cut in, the two of you, once again, so caught up in your argument that you didn’t notice the m- (nope, still couldn’t say it) had come back up, once again clutching your keys.

“Right. I’m JoJo, you’re Emma Roberts, and pretty boy over there is Sara Paxton.” Nikki explained, as if this was something she had put a lot of thought into.

You crinkled your nose together. “Why am I Emma Roberts?”

“Because you’re boring.” _Wow. Okay, Nicole._ You didn’t like how fast that came out.

“I am _not_ boring.” You scowled. “Besides, I liked Emma Roberts in that movie! I didn’t think she was _boring.”_

Nikki rolled her eyes. “Of course you didn’t, you’re practically her.”

Just as you opened your mouth to fight back, you were once again interrupted. 

“Am I ‘pretty boy’? Is that a good thing?” His voice was a bit more sure than before, but obviously he still wasn’t too comfortable with the language. You wondered absently if that chirping from before was how he normally spoke. Spoke to _who,_ you didn’t know.

“Uh… Yeah.” Nikki said slowly, eyeing his hand. You finally got a good look at it, a soft rush of air escaping your lips in surprise and in awe as you saw tiny scales arranged on the top of his hand, and even tiny little fins, transparent and speckled gold, just like his tail fin.

“Here.” He beamed, seemingly oblivious to your internal struggle, still trying to hand you your keys. “You dropped these. Are they important? Do you want them back?”

You and Nikki shared a glance, and she mouthed the words ‘take it’. You turned back to him, taking your keys and nearly jumping out of your skin when you felt some of the scales on his hand. They were real. This was _real._

“Y-yeah. They’re kind of important. Thank you for getting them for me.” You murmured, shoving them into your pocket so you didn’t drop them again. “And, um. I’m sorry for punching you. I was scared.”

He simply shrugged, his tail lifting out of the water and slapping against the surface. “It’s okay. It’s instinctual, right? I fight when I’m scared, too.”

“Riiight…” Nikki drawled. “Well… I’m Nikki.”

You introduced yourself as well, then it was quiet for a second, you and Nikki looking at him expectantly and him just looking blankly right back at you two before you broke the silence.

“What’s your name, then?”

His eyebrows knit together in confusion. “My… name? You mean my Calling?”

Jesus _Christ._ You shifted a bit in place. His _Calling._ What the fuck was even happening right now?

“Uh, yeah. Your, uh. Calling.” You allowed.

You were expecting some sort of badass, incredible sounding name, something powerful, something awe-inspiring. Something that Nikki wouldn’t be able to pronounce. What you _weren’t_ expecting was his cheerful answer.

“Oh! I’m Seth.”

Oh. You and Nikki shared a disappointed glance. _Seth,_ really?

“I was expecting something a little more…” Nikki’s voice trailed off, looking at you for assistance.

“More like that chirping noise you made.” You finished, not wanting to offend him.

Seth, though, thankfully just laughed. “Well, you wouldn’t understand anything I said to you like that. Seth is what it translates to in your tongue.”

“Seth…” You tested the name out, and he beamed and flicked the surface of the water with his tail at the sound. You couldn’t help your tiny grin right back if you tried. “I like it. So, Seth. What are you even _doing_ here?”

He paused then, looking a bit troubled, glancing between you and Nikki before lowering his voice. “Honestly… I don’t know.”

“What do you mean, you don’t know?” Nikki’s eyebrows knit together in confusion, her tone just right on that fine line between curious and motherly versus sharp and rude. You squeezed her shoulder gently as a bit of a warning when you saw Seth flinching a little, and thankfully she got the message and relaxed a bit. “You can trust us, you know.”

Seth visibly relaxed as she did, swimming a bit closer to the edge of the pool where you and Nikki were sitting, resting his elbows on the concrete. You spent a few moments studying the tiny scales dotting his strong arms before he spoke again and broke you out of your thoughts.

“I… I wasn’t born here or anything. I remember what it was like to be in the ocean. I was there for a long time.” He started slowly, looking at his hands for awhile before looking up to make eye contact with you. You wondered, briefly, how it was possible for a man that was half fish to look so much like a puppy dog. “But one night, there was this storm. The current was too strong for me to fight, and I’m usually a very strong swimmer. I remember hitting my head on _something…”_

Seth’s voice trailed off and without thinking, you reached forward and squeezed his shoulder like you had with Nikki to try to comfort him. You panicked for a second when his eyes got wide, but then he reached up to squeeze your hand. The two of you shared a small smile that had Nikki smiling as well, but for _entirely_ different reasons, before he continued.

“And then I woke up here.” Seth finished, letting your hand go. You momentarily found yourself missing the odd, yet somehow comforting feeling of the cold, somewhat slimy feeling of his scaly hand on your own.

“How long have you been here, Seth?” You questioned softly.

He shrugged a shoulder, looking a bit sad. “I don’t know exactly. I know it’s been a few years. The man who comes and goes, he looks a few years older than when I first met him.”

“The man? What man?” Nikki’s eyes narrowed.

“A few years?” You gaped, speaking over your best friend by accident.

Seth chuckled sadly, once again focusing on his hands instead of either of the two of you. “He found me after I had already been here for a few days, like the two of you did, by accident. He helped me a lot, bringing me fish and introducing other marine life to the pool so that I could remain healthy.

“He checks up on me every now and then. But it must be a few years now. His face looks older. The lines are getting deeper. The hair on his chin is changing color. He tells me he doesn’t think it’s been too long since he’s found me, but I know better.” Seth explained quietly, finally dragging his eyes up to meet yours once more.

“But… why would he lie about it?” Nikki asked, appearing to be just as unsettled as you were feeling.

“I’m just as confused as you are. And I’ve had nothing else to do but think about it.” Seth murmured. 

“I want to help.” You blurted, not even giving yourself time to think about it. And you didn’t regret saying it, either. You wanted to do everything you could to help Seth. The look on his face when you said it was all the confirmation you needed to know that you were doing the right thing.

“Really? How?” Seth asked eagerly, moving a bit closer to your side and taking your hands. You shivered a little at the odd sensation, but other than the sort of slimy scales, his hands felt normal. Maybe a bit _big,_ but you didn’t mind that.

You squeezed his hands once before shrugging sheepishly. “Honestly, I don’t know. But you shouldn’t live your life in a pool like this, you know? You deserve better. You deserve to go back to where you belong.”

“I’ll help, too.” Nikki said, determined. Seth’s grin, again, reminded you that of an excitable puppy, and it warmed your heart. “She’s right, it’s not fair of you to live like this.”

“But it’s getting late.” You finished, squeezing Seth’s hands one more time before dropping them and standing up. “I need to get home, and so does Nikki.”

Seth paused for a moment, his eyebrows furrowed together comically, like he was thinking deeply about something. You waited patiently for him to say something, to say anything, but he instead shook himself from his thoughts and offered the two of you a smile. “I’ll see you soon, then. Thank you.”

You and Nikki waved your goodbyes to the merman in the pool, and quietly left the way you came, locking the gate behind you and making sure nothing looked out of place. It was a mostly silent walk down the street to, first, Nikki’s house. It wasn’t until you two reached the fork that, if turned left, was towards Nikki’s house, and turned right, was a few blocks to your house that the two of you stopped to talk in hushed tones.

“What Seth was saying, about that man…” Nikki started, tugging nervously on a strand of hair. “Who do you think that could even _be?_ And how could he have possibly transported him from the ocean to the pool, and why would he do it to begin with? How has he kept him secret? Do you think that-”

“Nik.” You said softly, putting your hands on her shoulders and squeezing both to silent her and to comfort her. “I don’t know. I have no clue. But we’re gonna figure it out, okay? We’re gonna figure it out and we’re gonna help him.”

The corner of Nikki’s lips twitched upwards in a smile. “I know. With your obnoxious brain and my obnoxious attitude, we’ll get it done.”

You giggled and slapped Nikki’s hand in a high five. “Damn right. But let’s head home, okay? I’ll see you tomorrow.”

“See you tomorrow.” Nikki agreed, turning and heading left while you went to the right.

You weren’t sure what tomorrow would bring, but you did know one thing for sure. You’d help Seth if it was the last damn thing you did.

**Author's Note:**

> Requests are open at dirrrtydeeds over at tumblr!


End file.
